Benefits
by tippyroo
Summary: The green eyed monster makes an appearance, and two people are forced to face their feelings for one another


Benefits

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I do think they're secretly having an affair!

A/N: Wow this took me a long time! I thought it was going to be another porn, but it didn't really turn out that way. It's kind of sappy, but whatever. This is my attempt at writing emotion…let's see how it goes!

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Eric had been at the club for about 10 minutes, drinking with his buddies and checking out the scene when he saw her. It took him a moment to be sure, but when she turned around he knew it was her, "Calleigh", he said, more to himself than anyone else

His friend followed his line of vision to the beautiful blonde across the room, "Is that Calleigh? Man, she's hot!"

Eric clenched his jaw, she was hot, and some other guy's hands were all over her. Eric downed the rest of his drink and made his way onto the dance floor, his friends were used to being blown off. He headed straight for Calleigh, who was still dancing with the guy who'd been groping her when Eric first noticed her. He approached her from behind, placing his hands on her hips and kissing the side of her neck. Calleigh whirled around, startled at first, but then smiled when she saw who it was. "Eric!", she leaned up and kissed him briefly on the lips.

"Hey, what the hell?", the other guy interjected, grabbing Calleigh's arm and pulling her back to him. Calleigh pulled her arm back, but the guy grabbed her waist and pulled her against him. Calleigh looked like she was about to smack him and Eric pushed him back lightly and tugged Calleigh back toward him.

"Eric-"

"I Saw her first bro", the other guy was pissed now, "go find your own piece of ass", he made a move to grab her again, but was stopped when Calleigh's small, but powerful fist made contact with the side of his face. Eric smirked as the guy brought his hand up to his now bloody lip and starred at her in shock.

"I'm not your piece of ass", Calleigh responded, arms crossed over her chest and the look of death on her face; oh, she was pissed.

"You little slut", he moved toward Calleigh and this time it was Eric's fist making contact with his face, and knocking him flat on his back. At this point everyone's eyes were on the three of them.

"Hey, break it up", the DJ yeled as the bouncer and Eric's friends rushed over to hold the two men back. "You three are gonna have to leave", the bouncer grumbled, pointing to Eric and Calleigh as he hauled the other guy toward the door.

"Hey I only hit him because he was getting rough with Calleigh"

"You were trying to move in on my tail", the other guy yelled, struggling with the bouncer.

Calleigh rolled her eyes, ignoring both of them and walking briskly to the exit.

"Not my problem guys", the bouncer answered, ushering them out with a rough shove to the guy who'd been giving him a hard time. Calleigh had made it out before them and was already making her way to the corner to catch a cab.

The skeezy guy looked in her direction, "Hey, blondie-"

Eric interrupted him with a firm grip on his shoulder, "Don't even think about it. Just get the hell out of here, and stay away from her"

He considered trying to take a swing at Eric, but decided he wasn't going to get any from the hot blonde chick anyway and he didn't want to get knocked out, so instead he just gave Eric a nasty look and took off in the other direction. Eric turned his attention back to Calleigh's retreating form and jogged to catch up with her. It wasn't until he was walking beside her that he realized how pissed she really was.

"Hey"

"Hey", she replied coldly as she pulled out her cell phone to call a cab.

"You don't have to get a cab, I'll give you a ride"

Calleigh gave him a glare, "I'm fine Eric. I think you should go home now"

"Calleigh, just let me-"

"No" she interrupted, whirling around to face him, she was really mad, and he was getting a little worried, "I'm fine Eric! I don't need you to take care of me or protect me. I'm a big girl"

Eric sighed, "I'm sorry I hit him, I just-"

"Eric, you two were tugging me back and forth like two dogs fighting over a chew toy"

He paused, knowing she was right, "You're right Calleigh, I'm sorry. I didn't have any right to act like that, but when I saw you dancing with that other guy, I just…I don't know"

"We were only dancing Eric"

Eric rolled his eyes, "His hands were all over you!"

"What's your point?" Calleigh spat back, "You and I are not a couple Eric! We just hook up sometimes, we can see other people, I thought that's what we agreed. I thought that was what YOU wanted!"

Eric bit his lip, "I thought so too…"

Calleigh turned away and began dialing the number of the cab company. He knew if he let her leave without resolving this he'd never get another chance with her. He also knew that the only way to resolve it was to tell her how he really felt.

He reached out and touched her arm gently, hoping she wouldn't swing around and hit him. Much to his relief she just turned around and looked at him with a warning glare.

"Cal, you're more than just a hook up, I care about you, you know that"

Calleigh rolled her eyes and he continued, "I know what I said at the beginning, but I was just…it wasn't true. I just didn't know how to handle the way I felt about you, and I didn't think I was ready for the kind of relationship I wanted with you"

"Eric, save it. I don't want to talk about this tonight"

"Well we need to talk about it tonight!", Eric was undeterred and he took Calleigh a bit by surprise with his little outburst, "look, if we don't work through this now then we're never going to, and I'm not going to lose you over a stupid mistake"

Calleigh shook her head sadly, "You can't lose something you never had, Eric"

Just then the cab pulled up to the curb and Calleigh opened the door to get in but Eric grabbed her arm desperately, "Calleigh wait", she sighed but stopped, not looking at him and he continued, "why do you have to be so difficult about this? I don't want to be just friends with you, I don't want to be friends with benefits, I want to be with you, and you want to be with me too"

She raised her eyebrows but didn't deny it, "Eric it's just…it's more complicated than that"

"Why?" he wouldn't let go of her arm for fear she would jump into the cab and drive away, "this isn't about work, or anything else for that matter, all that matters is the two of us and the way we feel about each other. I was stupid Cal, I said I wanted it to be casual but I don't, I just want you" he took a deep breath, getting his courage up, "I love you"

She didn't respond and he felt tears welling up behind his eyes as he watched her stand there, one hand on the door of the cab, staring at the ground.

"Hey lady, are you getting in or not?" the disgruntled cab driver was getting impatient

"Don't go Calleigh" Eric whispered, fighting the lump in his throat

Calleigh took a shuddery breath and shut the cab door, taking a step back as she did. The driver mumbled an expletive and sped off. Eric didn't wait for her to say anything, he gathered her into his arms and buried his face into her hair, holding her tightly against his chest.

Somewhere from the depths of his shirt came her murmured reply, "I love you too"


End file.
